Update: Variety just posted another positive review: “[The film is] riveting beyond all rationality, is something like Jackass, except that here the stunts are dangerous only to standards of good taste — which, of course, is precisely the point. …perverse beauty. …Across the board, tech credits are appalling — in a good way.”

One movie we’re surprised and stoked to see readers curious about is Trash Humpers, the new Harmony Korine “VHS-horror” flick. Part of the appeal thus far is the bizarre dubiousness resulting from only a handful of stills (like the one above) released online and then followed by a rickety, creepy teaser trailer. Rather than be snagged in another tired viral campaign for a film “found in a mad scientist’s dilapidated laboratory” or some lame Hollywood shit like that, Korine is genuinely a lil’ nuts IRL. And more so in his (word) salad days. So how far into crazy town did the director behind Gummo and the more subdued Mister Lonely go with Humpers? Early reviews from the Toronto International Film Festival seem to say: none more crazy. The title is literal. And we’re a lil’ relieved to hear the movie has a plot.

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Last month, /Film visited the set of H2 (Halloween 2). After flying into Atlanta, Georgia, a colleague and I followed a publicity firm’s map and drove far out into the country, down winding roads encased by high trees that exhaled into healthy farmland. The sun was setting, the temperature was cooling, and our cell phones were no longer getting reception. We were lost. We finally came to a local cop car blocking a road, lights on spin. The cop exited—he was alive—and said, “Here for the movie?” and pointed us in the direction of Haddonfield, a fictional town that millions of people all over the world have watched Michael Myers terrorize for years.

Since 2007, the grisly lore of Haddonfield has rested in the determined hands of writer/director Rob Zombie. And in my opinion, so does the current state and fate of the American horror film, an institution predictably oft-sniffed at, but that is vital to our culture. As exemplified in our epic interview—divided into two parts—Zombie is a filmmaker who is unapologetically forthright about detractors of his vision for Halloween and horror, and much more. There is great irony to be found in that so many 20somethings wake up to Zombie’s music cuing The Howard Stern Show, and that the same guy is creating cinema that aspires to haunt our grandkids’ nightmares more so than the last president. (Click here for part two of the interview.)

Hunter Stephenson: In December, it was officially announced that you were on board for the sequel. So, between then and the release date this August, you have had to write, cast, prep, shoot and now you guys are editing. That’s such asmall window. When you first sat down to write the script, where did you want to go with Myers and this new mythology you created?

Rob Zombie: Well, I looked back at the first film and I thought, What would be the most realistic fall-out from the events that occurred previously? So, I started with Laurie Strode. The reality now is this: here is a girl who wakes up, her parents are murdered, most of her friends are murdered, and she finds out her brother is the person who killed everybody. What is the reality of that? What does that do to a person? I felt it would be much more interesting this time to make Laurie this dark, damaged character. And everyone else too.